Thursday, April 16, 2009

New Hiking Shoes!

I bought myself some new hiking shoes today. They are called Merrell Moab Ventilators. I feel like a little kid that just got a new toy. I can hardly wait for Saturday to come so I can try them out on a hike. They fit wonderfully and are light weight but have good foot support. I'll be hiking with L on Saturday at Nissene Marks near Santa Cruz. Then on Sunday I'll be on the GLS hike at Windy Hill. Woo Hoo. I love to hike and I love my new hiking shoes.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Getting in shape

So I'm slowly getting in better shape this year. I started going to Gold's Gym about four or five weeks ago on week days after work and climbing on the aerobic machines for about 45 minutes. I do different machines although lately I mostly go on the Precor elliptical machine. It has a nice smooth feel and doesn't stress my achilles tendons. I do like the ordinary treadmill but it does tend to stress my achilles tendons. The stationary bike is my least favorite but it does the best job on not stressing the tendons. I'm still recovering from a bout of achilles tendonitis which is why all this going on about stressing my tendons!

On weekends I prefer to go hiking to get in shape. I have been hiking at Windy Hill, Henry Cowell, Henry Coe, Shoreline Park, and Castle Rock over the last several weekends. This past weekend the hike I had hoped to go on was cancelled due to the rain. So I put on my raincoat and went to Shoreline park and hiked for nearly 2 hours on the paved bike paths. Only a few people were out there braving the cold and rain. I had a good time although walking on pavement was not a good idea for my achilles tendons. They were sore when I got home so I iced them and rested. They feel fine today.

I have lost four pounds since January 1, 2009. I weigh 180 pounds today. I have been recording my weight at fitday.com. According to them I am now only overweight and no longer obese. Hurray. I need to get down to 150 to get out of the overweight category. The exercise is really helping with the weight lose but if I want to lose weight faster I'll need to change my eating habits. I'm giving myself some slack for now on the eating. I don't want to suddenly restrict myself. I want to gradually work into eating more healthy foods and less calories.